The Wisconsin Geological Society proposed a state fossil in 1985 to encourage interest in our geological heritage. The trilobite (pronounced "TRY-low-bite")(Calymene celebra) is an extinct marine arthropod that was common in the warm,
shallow salt sea that periodically covered Wisconsin hundreds of millions of years ago. The three-lobed creature had a tough, furrowed exoskeleton that was shed as the animal grew and molted. Many specimens ranging from less than an inch to 14 inches in length have been preserved in rock formations throughout the state. This fossil put up a good fight against the mastodon, a large prehistoric, elephant-like creature for first place in the history books.